English Language and Literature Commons^™

Moments Of Excess: Type 1 Diabetes And The Myth Of Control In Adolescent Fiction For Girls, Michelle E. Legault

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

This thesis is the first academic work to analyze the stories of the Type 1 diabetic teen girls of adolescent fiction. In novels for adolescent readers, these girls are often White, female, heterosexual, and middle class—resulting in a collective disability narrative that portrays an “every girl” and lacks cultural or political dimensions. This thesis explores the narratives of five fictional teen protagonists with Type 1 diabetes. They are: Stacey McGill from the Baby-Sitters Club series by Ann M. Martin, Rachel Deering in Lurlene McDaniel’s Will I Ever Dance Again? (1982), Mackenzie “Zie” Clark in Sarah White’s Let Me List the …

“Hideous Things Have Happened Here”: Rape Myths, Rape Culture, And Healing In Adolescent Literature, Holly J. Greca

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Adolescent novels about rape are one way to discuss rape and rape culture with a young audience. These novels can depict and challenge aspects of rape culture, including the myths that ultimately reinforce a culture hostile to rape victims. Considering the prevalence of rape in society at large, as well as its prevalence among adolescents, this thesis examines the elements of rape culture at play within adolescent rape novels, which can serve as pieces of activism as they give voice to adolescent survivors of rape. Adolescent rape novels explore the internal struggles of survivors as well as the external process …

An Analysis Of Unusual Case Assignment In Pronouns, Olivia Ziemelis

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

No abstract provided.

Vampire Narratives: Looking At Queer-Centric Experiences In Comparison To Hetero-Centric Norms In Order To Model A New Queer Vampiric Experience, Marah Heikkila

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

This thesis examines vampire narratives such as Twilight, The Vampire Diaries, True Blood, From Dusk Till Dawn, The Gilda Stories, and Fledgling using queer and sexuality studies frameworks to look at salient patterns in the texts. The project focuses on how gender performances take place in the text, what the performances mean, and what the implications of them are. In addition to gender performance, in the thesis, I also look at how vampire narratives influence and transform binaries related to gender and sexuality. Furthermore, while popular narratives such as Twilight are fan favorites, there are …

The Memory Of Mythmaking: Transgenerational Trauma And Disability As A Collective Experience In Afrofuturist Storytelling, Jessica Tapley

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

This project closely examines the relationship between transgenerational trauma, disability, and myth, particularly within Black speculative fiction, Afrofuturism, and Africanfuturism. Through the lenses of critical race theory, trauma theory, disability studies, and feminist theory, I will closely analyze how myth functions across five Black speculative fiction novels. I argue that disability appears as a common thread throughout each of these novels as a unique part of Black history and experience. Disability culture specifically offers community interdependence, a rejection of body and mind binaries, and a rejection of hierarchies in the pursuit of accessibility. I further demonstrate how myth centers racial …

Feminism By Proxy: Jane Austen’S Critique Of Patriarchal Society In Pride And Prejudice And Emma, Alexis Miller

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Reading Austen’s Pride and Prejudice and Emma from a feminist perspective reveals Austen’s desire for progressive marriages built on equality and love. Comparing the characteristics and eventual marriages of Austen’s heroines, Elizabeth Bennet and Emma Woodhouse, to other women and relationships in her novels highlights their uniqueness as women of agency who desire more than the society of Regency England offered women. Through such comparisons, Austen brilliantly displays her critique of the patriarchal society and the limitations that it set on women. Her critique is further established in the two novels through her emphasis on breaking down the false patriarchal …

The C.L.A.P. Methodology: Utilizing Assistive Technology In The General Education Classroom, Lillia Sheline

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

No abstract provided.

Nvrch Music Festival: Creating And Fulfilling The Strategy, Honore Washington

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

No abstract provided.

Latinx Characters In Young Adult Literature: Perpetuating And Countering Stereotypes, Dallas Gomez

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

The Latinx community is rapidly growing in the United States, and it is important for young readers to find books with characters who are members of this community . However, there are many stereotypes that exist about this group in society, some negative and some positive . To determine how the Latinx community is depicted to readers of young adult (YA) fiction, I selected a set of novels featuring Latinx people as main characters based on their publication date and targeted audience age . By reading and analyzing different books written at different times, not only was it found that …

Body Image/Imagining Bodies: Trauma, Control, And Healing In Graphic Memoirs About Anorexia, Kristine M. Gatchel

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Over the past decade, there has been a significant increase of graphic narratives focusing on the intersection of comics and medicine, a subgenre known as graphic medicine. These memoirs, known as graphic pathographies, are written from those who interact with disease in various capacities from patient, to doctor, to caregiver. This project closely examines three graphic pathographies written about the eating disorder anorexia nervosa. Prior writing, both fictional and personal memoir, on anorexia has often been considered as problematic for its ability to function as a how-to manual for anorexics. Anorexia is a complex disease that exists largely within the …

David: Donatello, Michelangelo, And Bernini, Marie Williamson

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

No abstract provided.

Sculpted From Clay, Shaped By Power: Feminine Narrative And Agency In Wonder Woman, Mikala Carpenter

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

By applying deconstructive and feminist theories to the Wonder Woman saga, this thesis develops a potential definition of feminine narrative in contrast to the normative and exclusionary patriarchal narrative that reigns supreme in popular culture and Western ideology. Though much of comics discourse functions on the assumption that superhero narratives are homogenous reflections of this ideological hero narrative, I posit that the Amazonian princess's resilience and iconicity stem from her own narrative's uniquely deconstructive nature: Where the patriarchal story would demand dominance, destruction, and violence, the feminine narrative that Diana models advocates for equality, nurturance, and emotional and rational communication. …

Players In A Storm: Climate And Political Migrants In The Tempest And Othello, Darcie Rees

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

This paper presents a reading of migrants and their relationships with political and environmental slow violence in William Shakespeare’s The Tempest and Othello. Using Steve Mentz’s work with water and shipwreck, Lowell Duckert’s work on water in Shakespeare, Rob Nixon’s concept “slow violence,” Patricia Fumerton’s book on vagrancy in sixteenth and seventeenth century England, and Ken Hiltner’s work with environmental advocacy of the same time, I read the social history of vagrancy of the time (presented by Hiltner and Fumerton) alongside the Poor Laws. This social history is combined with water-focused ecocriticism, shipwreck and a postcolonial reading of migrancy. Ultimately, …

Yeah, No And No, Yeah: An Analysis Of Two Discourse Markers, Anna Mae Bower

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

No abstract provided.

The Hero's Journey Through The Hobbit, Leah Underwood

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

This project begins with a journey that moves from the familiar to a place of adventure and trials through an instructional unit on the Hero's Journey and The Hobbit. It begins with a rationale for the selection of both the unit topic and the selected text which is followed by the standards covered, prior knowledge needed, and a map of the unit. Following this are the four weeks of lesson plans and the instructional materials the students would use. The project finishes off with a reflection on the process and the struggles and lessons learned along the way.

The Enduring Impact Of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Katlyn Dudek

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

No abstract provided.

A Merrier World:' Small Renaissances Engendered In J. R. R. Tolkien's Legendarium, Dominic Dicarlo Meo

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

After surviving the trenches of World War I when many of his friends did not, Tolkien continued as the rest of the world did: moving, growing, and developing, putting the darkness of war behind. He had children, taught at the collegiate level, wrote, researched. Then another Great War knocked on the global door. His sons marched off, and Britain was again consumed. The "War to End All Wars" was repeating itself and nothing was for certain. In such extended dark times, J. R. R. Tolkien drew on what he knew-language, philology, myth, and human rights-peering back in history to the …

Exploring The Political Impact Of Literature And Literary Studies In American Government, Taylor Dereadt

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

This thesis explores the role of literature and practices of literary study in American government. Specifically, it looks at how the President’s Council on Bioethics (PCBE) and the Supreme Court have deliberately embraced the humanities to fulfill their respective responsibilities. I begin by examining the interpretive practices these groups employ, then turn to lists of recommended reading published by the PCBE and Justice Anthony Kennedy. I investigate how their endorsements of texts such as Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, My Antonia, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and To Kill a Mockingbird promote certain constructions of traditional American values that …

"We Met In A Bar By Happenstance": Master Narratives In Couples Stories, Brent A. Miller

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The focus of this study is on uncovering the underlying cultural assumptions, or Master Narratives, across four couples narratives that I elicited. I use Deborah Tannen's work and definitions to frame my analysis (2008). She identifies three narrative types: small-n narrative, the accounts of specific events or interactions that speakers said had occurred with one another; big-N Narrative, the themes speakers develop in telling about one another and in support of which they told the small-n narratives; and Master Narrative, the culture-wide ideologies shaping the big-N Narratives. Specifically, I identify two Master Narratives that underscore couples narratives in a broad …

The Organization Of Turn-Taking In Fieldwork Settings: A Case Study, Amy Brunett

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

This linguistic study explores the role of turn-taking within 3 fieldwork sessions between a linguist and a native Mocho’ speaker, aiming to address who overlaps more frequently and whether overlapping speech is a cooperative or competitive resource throughout the exchanges. I questioned whether the fieldwork recordings would have turn-taking similar to a conversation or whether the turn-taking would function like an interview, however, the turn-taking in these recordings function in a unique manner. Based on my analysis, the fieldwork exchanges have their own organization of turn-taking that incorporates aspects that are similar to both naturally-occurring conversation and classic interviews, encouraging …

The Nature Of Identity: Ecofeminism, Women's Poetry, And Reclaiming Power Through The Recognition Of Parallel Oppressions, Jessica Dailey

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

The presence of Ecofeminism in women's poetry can empower women today who engage in feminist activism. The systematic oppression experienced by women is paralleled by the destruction inflicted upon nature (including animals). By recognizing these as similar, women can reclaim their connection to nature (while rejecting the idea that this is essentialist); through this connection women as readers find an escape from patriarchy, the male gaze, and sexual violence in Ecofeminist poetry.

Superficialy [Sic] And Maturity Within J. D. Salinger's The Catcher In The Rye And Mark Twain's The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn, Louise Caroline Barbosa

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

The purpose of this research is to analyze the concept of maturity between postcolonialism and modem literature through a close reading of Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and J. D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye. Both Huck and Finn reside in a world where growing older means accepting the often fake societies and communities that regulate societal norms. Both characters face mature themes, such as death/mortality/ isolation, the hypocrisy of"civilized" society, and depression. In evaluating these texts, it is reasonable to believe that Holden and Huck will forever be displaced in society because of their repression …

Too Retro For Religion: Self-Identity And The Presence Of God In The Works Of L. J. Smith And Bram Stoker, Jasmyn C. Barringer

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

Since vampirism threatens the psychological stability of human beings, religion is utilized to combat vampires in Bram Stoker's Dracula. Jutta Schulze alludes to a dominant discourse that establishes moral binaries through religion. However, when the presence of God is limited or non-existent, individuals within L. J. Smith's Secret Vampire cannot rely on moral binaries to understand vampires. Instead, they must redefine their self-identity without Christian beliefs that would otherwise deem vampires unacceptable. "Too Retro for Religion" examines the exclusive nature presented by religious binaries in Victorian literature in comparison with the transformative human-vampire relationship in modern fiction.

Tl;Dr - Communicating In The Age Of Social Media, Julia L. Czekaj

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

This thesis uses a literature review and post analyzation to explore Facebook and Twitter as methods of communicating. This thesis examines social media history, genre, and rhetorical aspects.

Cannibalism In Contact Narratives And The Evolution Of The Wendigo, Michelle Lietz

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

This thesis examines the relationship between colonization and cannibalism, beginning with cannibalism as represented in colonial contact narratives. I address the tendency of the colonizers to presume cannibalism of the indigenous people with whom they come into contact, and how the assumption dictates the treatment of aboriginals by colonizing Europeans. Texts discussed in this light include The Tempest, She, Robinson Crusoe and the journals of Christopher Columbus. Additionally, I address the effects of colonization on the indigenous associations of cannibalism in conjunction with the evolution of the wendigo. To illustrate this evolution, I primarily draw on traditional oral …

The System Of Subjectivity: Societal Systems And Literary Pardigms, Alyssa Rittinger

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

Patterns aid in deepening humanity's understanding of the world and what is cultivated within it. Patterns emerge in interactive disciplines such as language, literature, science, visual arts, and even mathematics. The existence of patterns assists the human need to understand a complicated world. Beyond simply seeing patterns as they are presented, I am interested in exploring how these patterns manifest into paradigmatic structures that affect the way in which society. Particularly, I am interested in the socialized perceptions of literature, and the role that systems plays in their interaction and development.

This thesis project: 1) introduces the fundamentals of systems …

A Comprehensive Literature Review Of Juvenile Programs, Policies, And Monitoring Systems, Jason Herter

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

This paper investigates past literature on juvenile-based programs, policies, and monitoring systems. It shows what strides practitioners have taken to reduce recidivism and how programs have tried to limit past failures. By showing what has worked and what has failed, we can develop future research and designs, measure the effects of different theories, and even add more important categories to future programs. This research presents information that may assist practitioners who work directly with juveniles and those who are involved in researching and developing future juvenile programs and policies.

Phonemic Inventory Of The Shor Language, Uliana Kazagasheva

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

This thesis describes the phonemic inventory and morphophonological properties of the Shor language. Shor is a Turkic language spoken in southwest Siberia, in the area designated as Mountainous Shoriya. It is one of more than 100 minority languages spoken in the territory of Russia, and it is currently on the verge of extinction. The language is characterized by agglutinative morphology, vowel harmony, and consonant assimilation typical of Turkic languages, which are discussed in the project. The main phonological processes, morphotactics, and some aspects of grammar are described and discussed in this thesis. Along with the discussion of the morphophonology of …

What Is The Negro Woman's Story?: Negro Story Magazine And The Dialogue Of Feminist Voices, Maureen Convery

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Too often, writing by and about Black women has been sidelined in scholarly work about African American writing prior to the post-World War II era. This is especially true in the recently emergent school of work surrounding the Chicago Black Renaissance. This thesis focuses on a single literary magazine, Negro Story, in order to explore the complexity of Black female identity in the 1940s through the work of the female editors and contributors to the periodical. These contributors come from varied racial and socioeconomic backgrounds, but their work takes on a cohesive quality as the stories are constantly in conversation …

Illustrating Adolescent Awareness: Teaching Historical Injustices And Promoting Agency Through Picture Books In Secondary Classrooms, Melissa Hoak

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Picture books, often marketed to and written for young children, are typically thought of only as tools to inspire early literacy. They rarely make their way into secondary lesson plans, and with their seemingly simple illustrations and text, they are mostly deemed (socially, if not academically) inappropriate for accomplished readers. This thesis explores the advantages of including picture books when teaching four young adult texts: Pam Muñoz Ryan’s Esperanza Rising (2000), Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief (2005), Jacqueline Woodson’s Brown Girl Dreaming (2014), and Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis (2003). Picture books can serve as valuable companions to anchor texts such as …